Says BMG CEO David Silverstein: “I’m hoping readers use this book for what it is – a teacher and reference that provides general Lean Six Sigma knowledge within a step-by-step framework. Use it to improve processes, make customers ecstatic and reap the associated rewards.”

Amazon is currently taking pre-orders for The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Lean Six Sigma.

Ask anyone what Lean Six Sigma is and how you do it, and you’re likely to get a wide array of answers. That’s because organizations are still trying to figure out how to implement two different methodologies in an integrated fashion for greater results. There’s a lot of ambiguity around blending Lean and Six Sigma, and it’s not easy – but it has to be done.

Why? Because both Lean and Six Sigma techniques are powerful and necessary for any organization. One without the other is no longer enough to compete. As an organization, you need to have greater speed and efficiency (Lean), as well as superior process capability and error-free operations (Six Sigma).

OK, you probably already know this. So before we lose your attention, did you know that there is another performance-improvement trend underway? This movement aims to make methods like Lean Six Sigma more accessible than ever before.

Maybe you’ve observed this trend yourself. Have you seen the data that shows how many people have acquired a Lean Six Sigma skill set compared to, say, five years ago? In fact, performance-improvement methods have become a subject that engages the mass retail audience! Probably no one knows this better than BMG’s Publishing VP, Neil DeCarlo, who co-authored Six Sigma for Dummies (2005).

“The Six Sigma for Dummies book is purchased by thousands of retail customers each month,” says DeCarlo, “because there’s a hunger for the knowledge, and because it has value even beyond the context of a corporate deployment. People just want to know about Six Sigma, and about other methods, whether they work for a large company or not.”

DeCarlo says BMG’s ability to communicate complex topics in simple and clear terms is what helped the company earn a contract for a new mass-market book titled: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Lean Six Sigma. “Believe it or not, it’s relatively easy to pontificate a bunch of dazzling thought leadership; what’s not so easy is to take complex material and make it understandable and usable by anyone with any level of experience or education. That’s what The Complete Idiots Guide to Lean Six Sigma does.”

BMG completed the book’s manuscript in October of this year. The published book will appear at every major bookstore, and on Amazon.com, in April 2007. The book is consistent with BMG’s corporate vision to make the tools and methods of performance improvement “ubiquitous” – known and practiced by all, not just a special few.

Other books published by BMG and its principals include Six Sigma For Dummies, Insourcing Innovation and A Team Leader’s Guide to Lean Kaizen Events.